U.S. YOUTH NATIONAL TEAMS

CHICAGO - U.S. Soccer has announced the hiring of B.J. Snow as head coach of the U.S. Under-17 Women's National Team and April Kater as Head Development Coach.

Snow and Kater join U.S. Soccer Women's Technical Director April Heinrichs and Women's Youth Development Director Jill Ellis, who were the first full-time positions hired by U.S. Soccer a year ago.

"These hires mark another great opportunity to continue to build a full-time team of coaches around our youth national teams program," said Heinrichs. "It's vital we provide continuity and support among our coaches throughout the age groups so that we can manage all of the aspects of national team player development. We want to make sure we are maximizing the talent that is coming through our programs."

Snow will take over all aspects of the U.S. Under-17 Women's National Team program and will also work with U.S. Under-15 and Under-14 Girls' National Teams, which feed into the U-17 age group. Snow will be charged with preparing the USA for qualifying for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup to be held in Costa Rica in the first part of next year.

The hiring of Snow marks the first time U.S. Soccer has made the head coach of the U-17s full-time, and U.S. Soccer is also continuing the process to hire a full-time head coach for the U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team, which will also be a first. Snow, 35, will coach his first training camp with the U-17s beginning Jan. 26 at The Home Depot Center. Snow's squad will take on the Germany U-17 Women's National Team at The HDC on Jan. 29 and Feb. 1.

"I am extremely honored to have the opportunity to work with U.S. Soccer," said Snow. "I truly feel there is no greater distinction in our sport than to represent your country. The standards and expectations for women's soccer in the United States are extremely high. I am really looking forward to embracing the rich tradition of excellence while continuing to develop the next generation of talent that will enable us to compete at the highest level for years to come."

As Head Development Coach, Kater will work closely with Ellis and will be responsible for developing and maintaining a national database, tracking elite youth players to serve all of U.S. Soccer's girls' Youth National Teams. She will also coach and assist in U.S. Soccer's National Training Center initiatives, serve as the head coach for the U.S. U-14 Girls' National Team program and also work with the U.S. U-15 Women's National Team. Kater will also be heavily involved in educating and developing coaches across the nation to work with younger age groups.

"It's a dream come true to be able to work alongside such a talented staff of national team coaches and to be able to make this kind of positive impact on our youth players," said Kater. "It's a vitally important responsibility and challenge to work with the U-14 age group in their first experience with the national teams. I'm also very much looking forward to helping spearhead the movement to help coaches across the country develop more technical players at the younger ages."

Snow, 35, joins U.S. Soccer from UCLA, where he was the head women's soccer coach for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Last season, Snow led the Bruins to an 18-3-2 record and a berth to the NCAA quarterfinals. In 2011, he compiled a 16-1-4 overall record in his first season as head coach and helped the Bruins reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Kater, 43,joins to U.S. Soccer after seven seasons as an assistant coach at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. She joined the Tigers staff as an assistant coach in March 2006 and the following fall proceeded to help guide Colorado College to its best showing in 15 years. Overall, the Tigers were 82-43-20 in Kater's seven seasons with the program.